Method and apparatus for chaining two or more tweens to provide non-linear multimedia effects

ABSTRACT

An improved method for generating non-linear multimedia effects by employing two or more tweens. Specifically, a second tween mapping is chained to a first tween mapping. A first time signal is received. The first tween is employed to map the first time signal into a second time signal. The second tween mapping is employed to map the second time signal into an output that varies in a non-linear fashion with respect to the first time signal.

This application is a continuation application of the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/001,155, filed Dec. 30, 1997 now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to the creation, integration, and publication of digital media and more particularly to an improved method to generate non-linear effects, such as acceleration of an object and the fading in and out of a volume level, by chaining two or more tweens.

2. Description of the Related Art

The assignee of the present invention has developed Quicktime™, an award-winning industry-standard software architecture that allows developers to create, integrate, and publish all types of digital media. As applications increase in sophistication, and consumers demand increased realism in multi-media products, developers are increasingly turning to generate non-linear effects to create added realism.

In addition, many human perceptions and senses, such as the auditory perception of sound and the visual perception of object motion (e.g., acceleration) can only be described mathematically as a non-linear function. Unfortunately, these non-linear mathematical functions are typically very difficult to describe, mathematically or otherwise. The versions of Quicktime™ up through release 2.5 do not allow a developer to specify a custom specific non-linear effect. For example, although a developer can use a predetermined fade-in or fade-out of a volume level, the Quicktime™ architecture does not allow developers to customize or specify other fade-in or fade-out relationships or functions besides the predetermined relationships, supported by the Quicktime™ architecture.

As a result, developers were left to one of two undesirable choices. The first choice is to attempt to describe a non-linear mapping by employing a mathematical function. However, as stated previously, many of the non-linear functions are difficult, if not impossible, to describe mathematically. The second choice is to employ a table that is, at best, an estimate of the non-linear performance or behavior of a particular parameter such as volume level or an object's speed. The second choice suffers from the disadvantage that the table typically approximates to a first order the mathematical function, but is not the same as the mathematical function. Accordingly, a loss of realism occurs. Moreover, different developers develop their own tables, resulting in non-uniformity in the industry. For example, different software products can describe non-linear effects, such as acceleration of an object or the fading in and out of a volume level in very different ways. Furthermore, because there is no consistent way to describe non-linear effects, developers cannot build enhancements to their existing models or other developer's models. Nor can developers share or port the models to others.

Accordingly, there remains a need in the industry for an improved method to provide multimedia non-linear effects that overcomes the disadvantages set forth previously.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An improved method for generating multimedia non-linear effects by chaining two or more tweens. The present invention can employ a second tween mapping that maps a first time signal into a second time signal, and a first tween mapping that maps the second time signal to an output value. The first tween is employed to map the first time signal into a second time signal in either a linear or non-linear fashion. The second tween mapping maps the second time signal into an output that varies in a linear or non-linear fashion with respect to the first time signal. Additional tweens can be chained to the first and second tween to provide other multimedia effects, such as moving an object forward and back across a path numerous times.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows one example of a conventional computer system in which the present invention can be implemented.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a computer readable storage medium incorporating one embodiment of the present invention in which two tweens are chained or linked.

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary multimedia application of a planet orbiting a sun in which the present invention can be employed to provide non-linear effects.

FIG. 4 illustrates a path-to-point tween that defines the path for the planet of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 illustrates a time versus time interpolation curve, which when employed in conjunction with the tween described in FIG. 4, provides non-linear multimedia effects to the planet.

FIG. 6 illustrates a time versus time interpolation curve which when employed in conjunction with the tween described in FIG. 4 and the tween described in FIG. 5 provide for counterclockwise movement of the planet around the sun.

FIG. 7 illustrates a time versus time interpolation curve which when employed in conjunction with the tween, described in FIG. 4, and the tween, described in FIG. 5, provide for clockwise full orbit at double speed and then counterclockwise full orbit at double speed.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a computer readable storage medium incorporating an alternative embodiment of the present invention, in which three tweens are chained or linked.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a computer readable storage medium incorporating yet another embodiment of the present invention, in which n tweens are chained or linked so as to form a chain of n tweens.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following detailed description of the present invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be obvious to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well known methods, procedures, components, and circuits have not been described in detail as not to unnecessarily obscure aspects of the present invention.

Some portions of the detailed description which follow are presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like.

It should be noted, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be noted that throughout the description of the present invention, terms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or “determining” or “displaying” or the like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computer system's register and memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices.

The present invention also relates to an apparatus for performing the processing steps of the present invention. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a general purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program. The algorithms and displays presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general purpose machines may be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or it may prove convenient to construct more specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. The required structure for a variety of these machines will become apparent from the description below. In addition, the present invention is not described with reference to any particular programming language. It will be appreciated that a variety of programming languages may be used to implement the teachings of the invention as described herein.

Referring to the figures, exemplary embodiments of the invention will now be described. The exemplary embodiments are provided to illustrate aspects of the invention and should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention. The exemplary embodiments are primarily described with reference to block diagrams and flow charts. As to the flow charts, each block within the flow charts represents both a method step and an apparatus element for performing the method step. Depending upon the implementation, the corresponding apparatus element may be configured in hardware, software, firmware or combinations thereof.

Computer System

FIG. 1 shows one example of a conventional computer system 151 in which the present invention can be implemented. The computer system 151 interfaces to external systems through a modem or network interface 169. It will be appreciated that the modem or network interface 169 may be considered part of the computer system 151. This interface 169 may be an analog modem, an ISDN modem, a cable modem, a token ring interface, a satellite transmission interface (e.g., “Direct “PC”), or other interferences for coupling a digital processing system to other digital processing systems.

The computer system 151 includes a processor 153 which may be a conventional microprocessor, such as a Motorola PowerPC microprocessor or an Intel Pentium microprocessor. Memory 155 is coupled to the processor 153 by the bus 157. Memory 155 may be dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and may also include static RAM (SRAM). The bus 157 couples the processor 153 to the memory 155 and also to mass memory 163 and to display controller 159 and to the I/O (input/output) controller 165. Display controller 159 controls in the conventional manner a display on the display device 161 which may be a CRT or a liquid crystal display device. The input/output devices 169 may include a keyboard, disk drives, printers, a scanner, a digital camera, and other input and output devices, including a mouse or other pointing devices.

The display controller 159 and the I/O controller 165 may be implemented with conventional well known technology. The mass memory 163 is often a magnetic hard disk, an optical disk, or another form of storage for large amounts of data. Some of this data is often written, by a direct memory access process, into memory 155 during execution of software in the computer system 151.

It will be appreciated that the computer system 151 is one example of many possible computer systems which have different architectures. For example, Macintosh or Wintel systems often have multiple busses, one of which may be considered to be a peripheral bus. Network computers may also be considered to be a computer system which may be used with the present invention. Network computers may not include a hard disk or other mass storage, and the executable programs are loaded from a network connection into the memory 151 for execution by the processor 153. A Web TV system, which is known in the art, may be considered to be a computer system according to the present invention, but it may not include certain features shown in FIG. 1, such as certain input or output devices. A cell phone having a suitable display and a processor and memory may also be considered to be a digital processing system or a computer system which may be used with the present invention.

A typical computer system will usually include at least a processor, memory and a bus coupling the memory to the processor. It will also be appreciated that the computer system 151 is typically controlled by an operating system software which includes a file management system, such as a disk operating system, which is part of the operating system software.

Tween Definition

Tweens (also referred to herein as “tween mapping”) are functions that generate an output value based upon an input, such as a percentage, and a relationship between the input and static data. This relationship can be described in a table which provides a mapping, or a mathematical function, which also provides a mapping. The Quicktime™ software architecture provides for tweens or tween-mappings.

Interpolation Tweens

One example of a tween is a Quicktime™ interpolation tween which receives the following inputs: 1) a starting number, 2) an ending number, and 3) input percentage. Based on these inputs, the tween mapping generates an interpolated number. In this case, the percentage specifies the distance from the starting number to the requested number divided by the distance between the start number and the end number. Path to X( ) and Path to Y( ) tweens are examples of non-linear interpolation tweens. The Path to X( ) and Path to Y( ) are described in greater detail in Appendix I.

A Quicktime™ interpolation tween can be employed, for example, to fade-in a volume level of a multimedia application, such as a sound track to a movie, over a certain duration of time.

QT Atom Tween

Another Quicktime™ tween can include a list of data items and can return a single item from the list based upon an input percentage. This type of tween can be used to generate a cycle of discrete numbers. These discrete numbers can be employed to direct a sprite as to which image to use to produce animation. Another type of Quicktime™ tween can store a path and return a location and tangent of a point along the path based upon an input percentage. This type of tween can be used to make a sprite follow and rotate along a path. The Quicktime™ software architecture employs tween mappings to produce resolution independent behavior in the time domain.

Chain of Tweens

The present invention allows a chain of tween mappings to operate upon a time value and to generate intermediate time values, where the final time value is provided to a root tween mapping that generates an output value based on the final time value. The present invention provides for the reuse of two or more existing Quicktime™ tween mappings (also referred to herein as “tweeners”) in order to build new custom and more complex tweens. A developer can create new tweens to customize certain functions that manipulate time, which is ultimately provided to a root tween mapping. Accordingly, the present invention allows a user/developer to customize and reuse complex and preexisting tweens to generate additional tweens. It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that many different permutations of change of tweens can be derived and developed.

Chain of Two Tweens

FIG. 2 shows an example of a computer readable storage medium incorporating one embodiment of the present invention in which two tweens are chained or linked. The present invention 200 provides a novel method of providing non-linear effects to multimedia by the chaining together of multiple tweens. Specifically, FIG. 2 illustrates the chaining together of a first tween 201 and a second tween 202. A first time value (t₁) 204 is provided to the second tween 202. In response, the second tween 202 generates a second time value (t₂) 218 in accordance to a particular relationship 224. For example, the relationship 224 can be represented by the following: f(t₁)=t₂. This relationship 224 can vary and be adapted and tailored to a particular application.

A first tween 201 receives the second time value (t₂) 218 and responsive thereto, generates an output value 208. The relationship 240 between the second time value (t₂) 218 and the output value 208 can be represented by the following expression: f(t ₂)=output

This relationship 240 can be varied, adapted and tailored to suit a particular application. Appendix I illustrates several tweens that are provided in Quicktime™ Version 3.0 that are especially adapted to be the second tween 202. The second tween 202, or intermediary tween, is also referred to herein as an “interpolator tween” that provides an output, which is in turn used as a time input to another tween that is chained to the interpolator tween.

Example of Effects Created by Present Invention

FIG. 3 illustrates a planet 304 orbiting a sun 302. The present invention can be employed to provide acceleration effects of planet 304 as it orbits around the sun 302 in the predetermined orbit path 308.

FIG. 4 illustrates a path-to-point tween (i.e., PathToPoint( )) described by Table I. Table I assumes that the orbit path 308 has a total length (L) when measured from starting point A and ending at point A. Further, points A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H are assumed to be evenly distributed across the path (i.e., that is the distance between each point is the same and is given by the length (L) divided by 8).

TABLE I Time Point Tween t_(1=0×L) A= PathToPoint(t₁) t_(2=(1/8)×L) B= PathToPoint(t₂) t_(3=(2/8)×L) C= PathToPoint(t₃) t_(4=(3/8)×L) D= PathToPoint(t₄) t_(5=(4/8)×L) E= PathToPoint(t₅) t_(6=(5/8)×L) F= PathToPoint(t₆) t_(7=(6/8)×L) G= PathToPoint(t₇) t_(8=(7/8)×L) H= PathToPoint(t₈)

FIG. 5 illustrates a time versus time interpolation curve which when employed in conjunction with the tween of FIG. 4 provides multimedia effects (e.g., acceleration) to the planet 304.

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate how a third tween can be chained with a first and second tween to form a chain of three tweens.

FIG. 6 illustrates a time versus time interpolation curve which when employed in conjunction with (i.e., “chained”) the tween described in FIG. 4 and the tween described in FIG. 5 provide for counterclockwise movement of the planet around the sun.

FIG. 7 illustrates a time versus time interpolation curve which when employed in conjunction with (i.e., “chained”) the tween described in FIG. 4 and the tween described in FIG. 5 provide for clockwise full orbit at double speed and then counterclockwise full orbit at double speed.

Chain of Three Tweens

FIG. 8 shows an example of a computer-readable storage medium incorporating an alternative embodiment of the present invention, in which three tweens are chained or linked. In this embodiment, three tweens are chained together to provide further non-linear multimedia effects. A third tween 322 includes an input for receiving a first time value (t₁) 324, and responsive thereto, for generating a second time value (t₂) 328. The relationship 326 between the first time value (t₁) 324 and the second time value (t₂) 328 can be described by the following: f(t ₁)=t ₂.

A second tween 342 is coupled to receive the second time value (t₂) 328, and responsive thereto, generates a third time value (t₃) 348. The relationship 346 between the second time value (t₂) 328 and the third time value (t₃) 348 can be described by the following: f(t ₂)=t ₃.

A first tween 352 is coupled to receive the third time value (t₃) 348, and responsive thereto, generates an output 358 based on a relationship 356. This relationship 356 can be described as follows: f(t ₃)=output. Chain of N Tween

FIG. 9 shows an example of a computer readable storage medium incorporating of yet another embodiment of the present invention, in which n tweens are chained or linked so as to form a chain of n tweens. In this embodiment, an nth tween 410 is coupled to receive a time value (t) 412 and, in response thereto, generates a second time value (t₂) 414 based on a relationship 416 (e.g., f(t₁)=t₂). An n−1 tween 420 is linked to the n tween 410 and is coupled to receive the second time value (t₂) 414. Responsive thereto, the n−1 tween 420 generates a third time value (t₃) 424 based on the relationship 426 (e.g., f(t₁)=t₃). A second tween 440 is provided to receive a t_((n−)1) value 442, and in response thereto, to generate t_(n) value 444 based upon a relationship 446 (e.g., f(t_(n−1))=t_(n)). A first tween 450 is coupled to receive the t_(n) value 444 and in response thereto, to generate an output 454, based on a relationship 456 (e.g., f(t_(n))=output).

When the tweens described in FIGS. 4 and 5 are chained or linked in accordance with the present invention, a multimedia acceleration effect is provided for an object, in this case, a planet. Before the introduction of the present invention, the speed of the object orbiting the planet is constant. FIG. 5 illustrates a second tween, which maps linear time to a non linear time causing the velocity of the orbiting object to go from a constant one to one with acceleration. The acceleration models the real world acceleration of an orbiting planet. FIG. 6 is a third tween mapping that causes the planet to orbit backwards, which in this example would be counterclockwise instead of clockwise. As can be seen from this example, the present invention provides the flexible use of multiple tween mappings to allow a developer to describe non-linear effects with ease and precision.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will however be evident that various modifications and changes made be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. 

1. A computer implemented method comprising: receiving a first time signal at an intermediary tween; generating, by the intermediary tween, a second time signal from the first time signal using a first tween mapping; receiving, at a root tween, the second time signal; and generating, by the root tween, an output suitable for transmission to a user from the second time signal using a second tween mapping, wherein one of the first and second tween mappings is non-linear.
 2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the intermediary tween and the root tween comprise tweens for digital media software.
 3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first tween mapping is different from the second tween mapping.
 4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first tween mapping is a non-linear mapping of the first time signal to the second time signal, and the second tween mapping is a mapping describing varying velocity.
 5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the output suitable for transmission to a user is formatted for display.
 6. A computer readable storage medium containing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a digital processing system cause the digital processing system to perform a method comprising: receiving a first time signal at an intermediary tween; generating, by the intermediary tween, a second time signal from the first time signal using a first tween mapping; receiving, at a root tween, the second time signal; and generating, at the root tween, an output suitable for transmitting to a user from the second time signal using a second tween mapping, wherein one of the first and second tween mappings is non-linear.
 7. The computer readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the output suitable for transmitting to a user is formatted for display.
 8. A method for accelerating an object along a path comprising: receiving a first time signal at an intermediary tween; employing, by the intermediary tween, a first tween mapping to map the first time signal to a second time signal; receiving, at a root tween, the second time signal; and employing, by the root tween, a second tween mapping to map the second time signal to a location for the object along the path, wherein the first tween mapping and the second tween mapping vary velocity of the object along the path producing an acceleration effect.
 9. A computer readable storage medium containing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a digital processing system cause the digital processing system to perform a method comprising: receiving a first time signal at an intermediary tween; employing, by the intermediary tween, a first tween mapping to map the first time signal to a second time signal; receiving, at a root tween, the second time signal; and employing, by the root tween, a second tween mapping to map the second time signal to a location for an object along a path, wherein the first tween mapping and the second tween mapping vary velocity of the object along the path producing an acceleration effect.
 10. A computer implemented method for adjusting a volume level comprising: receiving a first time signal at an intermediary tween; employing, by the intermediary tween, a first tween mapping to map the first time signal to a second time signal; receiving, at a root tween, the second time signal; and employing, by the root tween, a second tween mapping for mapping the second time signal to a volume level.
 11. The computer implemented method of claim 10, wherein the adjustment includes fading a volume level from zero to a predetermined volume level.
 12. The computer implemented method of claim 10, wherein the adjustment includes a fading out of volume level from a first predetermined number to zero.
 13. A computer readable storage medium containing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a digital processing system cause the digital processing system to perform a method comprising: receiving a first time signal at an intermediary tween; employing, by the intermediary tween, a first tween mapping to map the first time signal to a second time signal; receiving, at a root tween, the second time signal; and employing, by the root tween, a second tween mapping for mapping the second time signal to a volume level.
 14. A computer implemented method of moving an object forward from a first point on a path to a second point on a path and moving the object backwards from the second point on the path to the first point on the path comprising: receiving a first time signal at an intermediary tween; employing, by the intermediary tween, a first tween mapping to map the first time signal to a second time signal; receiving, at a root tween, the second time signal; and employing, by the root tween, a second tween mapping for defining a path for movement of the object, said path having a first point and a second point, wherein the first tween mapping in conjunction with the second tween mapping causes an object to move forward from a first point to the second point on the path and to move backwards from the second point on the path to the first point on the path.
 15. A computer readable storage medium containing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a digital processing system cause the digital processing system to perform a method comprising: receiving a first time signal at an intermediary tween; employing, by the intermediary tween, a first tween mapping to map the first time signal to a second time signal; receiving, at a root tween, the second time signal; and employing, by the root tween, a second tween mapping for defining a path for movement of an object, said path having a first point and a second point wherein the first tween mapping in conjunction with the second tween mapping causes an object to move forward from a first point to the second point on the path and to move backwards from the second point on the path to the first point on the path. 